Vogues Hommes International is under fire for its new cover featuring Stephanie Seymour being choked by fellow model Marlon Texeira, shot by none other than bad boy fashion photog Terry Richardson. From Lady Gaga in a raw meat bikini to January Jones’ cleavage, see Richarson’s most controversial covers.
The Fifty Shades of Grey phenom has made BDSM mainstream, but does this Vogue Hommes International cover take the trend too far? Advocay groups against domestic violence have penned a letter to the chairman and editorial director of Conde Nast asking that they remove the issue from newsstands and blasting them for promoting choking as “a sign of passion rather than violence.” It should come as no surprise that the smoldering image of Stephanie Seymour in a rather compromising pose was shot by Terry Richardson. That’s not to say domestic violence factored into Richardson’s vision for the cover, but the arresting image has reignited the debate over where and when the fashion industry should draw the line.
Parents’ groups were up in arms over a racy photo that Richardson took of a few Glee cast members for a 2010 GQ cover. The interior shots of Dianna Agron, Lea Michele, and Cory Monteith were even more scandalous. Given the nature of the TV show, many found the mature pics inappropriate. The Parents Television Council criticized the spread, saying it was disturbed that “GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high-school-aged characters on Glee in this way. It borders on pedophilia.” GQ’s editor in chief quickly fired back, pointing out that the three actors featured in the shoot were all well over 18 when the photos were taken.
Terry Richardson snapped this picture of Mila Kunis for GQ’s 2011 comedy issue. The magazine also ranked Kunis as one of the 10 Sexiest Funny Women on the Planet.
Richardson’s photograph of a bikini-clad Lady Gaga that graced the cover of Japanese Men’s Vogue in 2010 caused a controversy of its own. The photograph’s raciness was not the issue, so much as the fact that the bikini was made of raw meat. To some, it was just another Lady Gaga stunt, but PETA had a big problem with the outfit. The animal-rights group’s president said, “Lady Gaga’s job is to do outlandish things, and this certainly qualifies as outlandish because meat is something you want to avoid putting on or in your body. No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal.”
For Lady Gaga’s 2010 Rolling Stone cover, her second for the magazine, Gaga posed in nothing but a thong and a bra made out of guns. Gaga’s Little Monsters were upset not because of the outfit’s outlandishness, but because she had already worn the gun bra in her “Alejandro” video. It was reportedly the first time the singer had repeated an entire outfit.
The shock of seeing then-clean-cut Betty Draper portrayed in such a light led to discussion that some parts of actress January Jones had been enhanced for this GQ cover. But the magazine’s director of photography wrote a blog post called “Yes, They’re Real. And They’re Spectacular,” to put the rumor to rest. “We like a natural look—there’s very minimal retouching,” she wrote. “We'll take a pimple out or soften under-eye dark circles. Or maybe there’s a wrinkle in the shirt, or even dust on the lens. January Jones needed no help. Trust me.”
Megan Fox’s sultry October 2008 GQ cover certainly had people talking. The string-bikini-clad Fox, who appeared as Shia LeBeouf’s sexy girlfriend in Transformers, was pictured licking her lips.
Katy Perry is used to having her chest talked about. There was the time she was on Sesame Street and parents complained that her cleavage was too much for young children. But, perhaps the most eye-opening display was her July 7, 2011, Rolling Stone cover, where she dressed the girls up as Hershey Kisses. (Or, maybe the time fireworks shot out of her bra.)
You can’t see her face, but there is plenty of leg on display with Gwyneth Paltrow’s March 2012 Harper’s Bazaar cover. The racy shot also shows off Paltrow’s midsection. The cover, which kicked off anew streamlined look for Harper’s, garnered quite the buzz for the magazine.
James Franco is no stranger to causing a stir. So it was no big deal for him to appear on the Fall/Winter 2011 edition of Candy magazine, a publication dedicated to celebrating transexuality and cross-dressing. Franco graced the cover dressed in drag complete with cherry red lipstick, bright blue eye shadow, and ornate jewelry.
